By: Luscious Mother
The following is an excerpt from Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’ plea to her city at a press conference she held Friday evening, May 30, 2020:
“Above everything else, I am a mother. I am a mother to four Black children in America, one of whom is 18 years old. And when I saw the murder of George Floyd, I hurt like a mother would hurt. And yesterday, when I heard there were rumors about violent protests in Atlanta, I did what a mother would do. I called my son and I said, ‘Where are you?’ I said, ‘I cannot protect you,’ and Black boys shouldn’t be out today. So you’re not going to out-concern me and out-care me about where we are in America.”
George Floyd and his mother, Larcenia Jones Floyd.
Dear friends,
Above everything else, we are mothers.
“Mama” is one of the last words George Floyd called out as he lay dying in the street. We are filled with heartache. But heartache is not a substitute for caring through action. As mothers we are committed to the love and nurturing of children. Not just our own. It is time for all mothers to stand against the violence and injustice being perpetrated against Black people. And make no mistake, each of the victims of these horrible race crimes is someone’s child. They are all our children. In her powerful op-ed piece this week, senior CNN producer Christy Oglesby calls for white mothers to come running.” I need the white mamas to share this burden,” she writes. “I need my white friends to love me and mine enough to come running, too.”
It’s not lost on us that we’re eight white women with a lot to unlearn and relearn. So how do we plan to show up?
As individuals, we will open our hearts, our arms and our minds. We will open our wallets. We will open our front doors and step outside. We will get involved. In whatever way we are able. As mothers we have so much love to give. As white mothers we have the freedom and platform to ally with Black mothers and mothers of color to make their voices so loud there is no chance they won’t be heard.
In our business, Luscious Mother is hiring a diversity and inclusion practitioner and culture advocate to work with our team and help us begin to understand the roles we have played in supporting this broken system and how we can become actively anti-racist and help create change.
We are also joining the 15 percent pledge to source 15% of our products and business services from Black-owned businesses. We invite you to do the same—with your business and for your home.
We are a conscious business, and we are conscious, mindful, purposeful women. Our affiliation is with all of humanity, and the turmoil we face today is a human problem— an American problem. We are facing a societal breakdown that’s been a long time coming, and it’s one that mothers are uniquely suited to help heal.
We own this and we will wear it.
From our Luscious hearts to yours,
Anna + Sarah
In service of amplifying the voices of Black mothers, here are some of the powerful pieces we’ve read this week:
Luscious Mother
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Hey – It’s Sheila. My kids are now in college and, while it seems like a million years ago, I can still feel the bliss, joy, exhaustion, and loneliness of those early months after my oldest son’s birth. I was ecstatic. The happiest I’d ever been. And the loneliest. And most scared I’d ever been. […]